One of the most distinctive aspects of humans as a species is our propensity to form complex social networks made up of intense, non-reproductive bonds with non-kin. Navigating these networks presents a considerable cognitive challenge that is...

The theory community has worked on Secure Multiparty Computation (SMC) for more than two decades, and has produced many protocols for many settings. One common thread in these works is that the protocols cannot use a Trusted Third Party (TTP), even...

From the most minimal of person information, such as a photograph or a sentence, people are able to rapidly infer a multitude of complex personality traits. These social inferences are thought to rely upon cognitive representations of person...

Through a series of case studies, signal processing and statistical tools, analyses of dynamic sea ice processes of drift, deformation, and ice pack expansion and decay are investigated for the Weddell Sea region during 1992. Cavitating fluid (CAV)...

The overarching goal of the dissertation was to further understanding of the relationship between callosal organization, functional lateralization, and interhemispheric communication in the healthy, young adult brain. Three converging methodologies...

Most current multiprocessor file systems are designed to use multiple disks in parallel, using the high aggregate bandwidth to meet the growing I/O requirements of parallel scientific applications. Most multiprocessor file systems provide...

Functional neuroimaging has confirmed a high degree of localization of function in the cerebral cortex of man. In contrast, microstructural analysis has contributed very little to the topographical characterization of cortical areas. In this work I...

Within a species, the abundance of individuals varies in time and space. This dissertation research examines processes giving rise to patterns of spatial and temporal variation in the abundance of multiple species of forest-breeding migratory...

Brain tumors account for ~2% of all cancers, with gliomas accounting for ~70% of all brain tumors. Evidence suggests that extent of resection provides both a quality of life and survival benefit to patients. Recent work has shown the utility of...

Successfully navigating our social world requires the ability to understand the facial expressions of others. Indeed, facial expressions provide information about the emotions and intentions of others. While some expressions provide clear...

Annual screening mammograms are recommended for all women above 40 years of age for early detection of breast cancer, and are known to improve cancer mortality rates. However, mammography is hampered by low sensitivity and a high rate of false...

The need for social connection is a pervasive and powerful human drive. When this fundamental need is not fulfilled, people place greater emphasis on forming social bonds and are motivated to behave in ways consistent with accomplishing these...

The general objective of the current thesis was to investigate the neural substrates underlying the perception of opposite-sex faces. Building on what is already known about the distributed network of brain areas supporting various dimensions of...

Apoptosis is important for tissue homeostasis and is the mechanism of cell death induced by many anticancer agents. The apoptotic machinery is present in all cells, such that tight regulation must exist to prevent untimely cell and tissue death. To...

The experiments comprising this thesis aimed to characterize the neural and behavioral correlates of learning about and responding to the predictive information conveyed by social cues. Facial expressions are cues that convey critical information...

Multimodality imaging is becoming the standard of care for research and clinical studies. Such an approach is able to provide complementary information which can detect and characterize tumors. Advancing instrumentation for diffuse near-infrared...

Aneuploidy is frequently detected in human cancers and is implicated in carcinogenesis. Pharmacological targeting of aneuploidy is an attractive therapeutic strategy, as this would preferentially eliminate malignant over normal cells. Our prior...

Despite immunogenicity, melanoma-specific vaccines have demonstrated minimal clinical efficacy in patients with established disease, but enhance survival when administered in the adjuvant setting. It has been shown that T cell infiltration of...

The proliferation of mobile devices and other consumer products has greatly expanded the market for CMOS image sensors. This in turn has promoted a trend of continued improvement in image sensor performance, as companies seek to gain an advantage...

Sensing light from the environment using photoreceptors is of great adaptive significance to eukaryotes. A prominent feature of the photochemistry of these receptors is the photocycle length, the time taken to decay from the initial signaling light...

Visual interpretation of the EEG associated with an epileptic seizure (ictal EEG) can be cumbersome and sometimes misleading, due to rapid seizure spread, limited spatial resolution and the fact that signals of interest are often obscured by...

Mutations in the Drosophila retinal-specific Phospholipase C (NORPA) cause massive retinal degeneration within five days of constant light exposure. We have previously shown that in norpA mutants persistent complexes between the light receptor...

Nitric oxide is synthesized by living organisms and plays important roles in circulatory, neurological, and immune function. Nitric oxide can also play pathophysiological roles, depending on the amount of the molecule, the presence of other species...

A fiber can transmit around 25 Tbit/s, but electronic signal processing today is performed at much slower speeds, usually 1-10 Gbit/s. To avoid this "bottleneck" in optical fiber communication systems, all signal processing will have to be done...

As a result of an unstable plasma stratification the nighttime equatorial ionosphere is subject to a variety of plasma instabilities known commonly as equatorial spread-F. In its fully developed form spread-F consists of large wedges of depleted...

This research has established feasibility of surface temperature characterization using ruby fluorescence. Study was performed in pin-on-disk geometry, with balls made of different plastics sliding against the sapphire disk. Fluorescence signal was...

Though researchers have advocated a more direct link between individual, population, and community processes, translating the behavior of individuals to the dynamics of natural populations and communities has remained a major challenge in ecology....